The concept of a scientific picture of the world. Psychological view (PsyVision) - quizzes, educational materials, directory of psychologists Worldview as a scientific phenomenon

In addition to the previously considered "ideals and norms", "philosophical foundations of science" (metaphysical models), we find another important component in the foundation of science, which plays an integrating and representative function. This is the scientific picture of the world. In order to understand what it is, we need to consider this component in the space of similar concepts that arise in the course of the functioning of culture and philosophical reflection: “worldview”, “picture of the world”, “cultural universals”, etc.

The word "worldview" denotes a holistic image of the world that people of a particular era have, in contrast to the system of ideas about the world in philosophy - the difference, therefore, is in the form of "image" and "system".

The fundamental categories of the worldview are the concepts of "world" and "man", which are concretized through the meanings of other universals of culture, such as, for example, "good and evil", "freedom and necessity", "thing, property, relation", "nature", "matter and spirit", etc. Worldviews accumulate the life experience of individuals and groups. It is the latter (groups) that develop their specific worldviews, which depend on the nature of their occupations and the context of existence. Between different specific group worldviews there can be rivalry in the intellectual field of culture, and the most viable of them, that is, those that turn out to be more applicable in universal contexts, become the dominant spokesmen for the entire era. As a rule, these are the worldviews of the most active, enterprising, reaching heights. social control groups.

Worldview is identified by many with the concept of "picture of the world". Why two words? The metaphor of "picture" has an important meaning, which is missing in the word "worldview" - selectivity, simplification, schematization of reality. Just as an artist who paints pictures achieves success through not photographic copying of reality, but through grasping something very important for a person, so the “picture of the world” through simplifications and schematizations singles out the most essential, fateful for human stay in the world from the limitless variety of reality. . Another, additional meaning of the “picture” metaphor (visual, visual, orientational schemes) is a kind of “mental map” with which a person compares his actions, orients himself among things and events, this is also what unites many things into one whole.

Philosophy constitutes the theoretical core of the worldview through reflection on the historical content of a particular culture and highlighting its universals in a logical-conceptual form. Simply put, in the life experience of millions of people, dozens of groups of people, certain worldview structures spontaneously crystallize, existing in semi-conscious, metaphorically figurative forms. Philosophy explicates them, at the same time schematizing and simplifying, into philosophical categories and concrete philosophical doctrines. However, one cannot say about the semantic identity of the implicit worldview structures of culture (universals of culture, worldviews of the era) and the philosophical teachings of this time. Nevertheless, philosophers add each time their own, specifically personal, creative, something that goes beyond the scope of a mere reflection.

The scientific picture of the world is a component of the worldview of a particular era, representing a specific form of systematization of scientific knowledge of that time. The scientific picture of the world, as knowledge about the structure of the world, most strongly affects the ontological component of the worldview. Of course, we are talking about technogenic societies, where people believe in science more than traditional (mythological and religious) ideas. What is the specificity of the scientific picture of the world?

^ It is formed within scientific communities through generalization and synthesis of the most important scientific achievements where philosophical principles are an important help in this process.

^ This is a form by which specific knowledge obtained in various fields of science is integrated and systematized. So, in addition to the general scientific picture of the world, there are natural-science and social pictures of the world, as well as disciplinary pictures of the world (physical, biological, astronomical, and some others).

^ The scientific picture of the world, like philosophy, is not only a reflection of the world or culture, but something with a significant, creative and activity "additive". Through scientific practice in life human society many processes are being implemented that, although they do not contradict the laws of nature, are extremely unlikely in ordinary (non-human) development (nature itself will not give rise to either cars or computers). Therefore, the scientific picture of the world reflects not only and not so much the virgin natural reality, but the world in the possibilities of its alteration, the world in the technological perspective of its transformation, the world as a set of natural and artificial objects.

The concept of "scientific picture of the world" appeared as a result of the methodological work of both the scientists themselves (M. Planck, A. Einstein, N. Bohr, V. Heisenberg, V. Vernadsky, N. Wiener, etc.), and the philosophers of science (T. Kuhn, I. Lakatos, J. Holton, L. Laudan, V. Stepin, etc.)

In the first half of the twentieth century. it was the founders of modern physics who reflected on the transition from classical to modern natural science and revealed the most important features of previous scientific pictures of the world. They used different terms ("physical reality", " physical world”, “picture of the world”), but in all cases they meant that this is a set of fundamental concepts and principles of various disciplines, integrated into a system that represents the world as a whole. The most important characteristic of the scientific picture of the world is its ontological status, i.e., the correlation of theoretical statements and the reality they describe. If the scientists of classical natural science were inclined to completely identify terms, categories, laws with real objects, then modern scientists are no longer so categorical, knowing about previous mistakes and revisions. At the same time, they insist on the obligatory presence in our pictures of the world of constant, truthful moments that cannot be refuted by the subsequent development of science. Scientists cannot but ontologize their ideas; belief in the reality of their own developments stimulates knowledge.

The structure of scientific pictures of the world

> Conceptual (conceptual) component, represented by such elements as philosophical categories (matter, space, time, etc.), philosophical principles (universal connection and interdependence of phenomena), general scientific concepts and laws (the law of conservation and transformation of energy) and fundamental concepts of individual sciences (Universe, field, energy, species, etc.).

> Natural science knowledge, serving as a rational theoretical basis for the formation of pictures of the world. For example, the theories of classical mechanics act as the rational-theoretical basis of the mechanistic picture of the world.

> Sensory-figurative component, that is, a set of visual representations of nature (planetary model of the atom, ideas about the Metagalaxy as an expanding sphere, etc.). Typology of scientific pictures of the world
Since there are different levels of systematization of knowledge, there are three main types of it in the scientific picture of the world. Accordingly, there are four main meanings in which the term "scientific picture of the world" is used when describing the processes of the structure and dynamics of science.

- A general scientific picture of the world, i.e. a holistic image of the world, including ideas about both nature and society.
- The natural science picture of the world, i.e., the system of ideas about nature, emerging as a result of the synthesis of the achievements of natural science disciplines.

— Scientific picture of the world of socio-historical reality.
- Special pictures of the world of individual sciences, that is, a holistic vision of the subject of a given science, which takes shape at a certain stage in its history and changes during the transition from one stage to another.

There are two alternative approaches to the problem of special scientific pictures of the world. Supporters of the first of them believe that by analogy with the physical picture of the world, the corresponding forms of systematization of knowledge in other scientific disciplines can be identified and analyzed. Proponents of the second approach deny the existence of special scientific pictures of the world for several reasons. Firstly, the terms “biological”, “astronomical”, “chemical”, “technical” picture of the world, introduced by analogy with the term “physical picture of the world”, seemed unacceptable. In relation to physics, this term seemed to be legitimate, since the subject of physical research is the fundamental structures and interactions that can be traced at all stages of the evolution of the Universe. Most of the sciences, much later than physics, entered the stage of theorization associated with the formation of specific theoretical models and laws that explain empirical data. Therefore, when analyzing the historical dynamics of knowledge in these sciences, methodologists often encountered a situation of empirical search dominance.

Another model of typology offers a two-layer understanding of the scientific picture of the world.

■ The first layer consists of scientific pictures of the world that put forward integral images of an ontological nature, i.e. those in which the human factor is not explicitly expressed: these are physical, biological and informational pictures of the world.

■ The second layer is represented by scientific pictures of the world, representing the world through integral images that include the human factor in an explicit, explicit form: these are technical, aesthetic and linguistic pictures of the world.

Thus, it is traditional to single out general scientific, natural science, socio-historical, as well as a number of special pictures of the world of individual sciences (disciplinary ontologies). However, there are other classifications based on various principles, such as the form of representation, the presence of an integral image, the role of the human factor, etc.

Even the founders of modern physics gave an analysis of the features of the previous stages in the development of science and the change in worldviews. The leading role in the development of natural science for a long time belonged to physics due to the fundamental nature of the knowledge obtained in this particular discipline. It was she who determined the composition of the world constituents and gave the qualifications of their main combinations and interactions. In the development of physics, there are three epochs, three pictures of the world.

The first took shape in the second half of the 17th century. and was called the mechanical picture of the world. Its ontological features can be represented as follows: the world consists of indivisible particles (corpuscles); their interaction is carried out as an instantaneous transfer of forces in a straight line; particles and bodies formed from them move in absolute space with the passage of absolute time.

In the last quarter of the 19th century, after the success of Maxwell's theory, the mechanical picture of the world, which had dominated science for more than two and a half centuries, was replaced by an electrodynamic one. In the electrodynamic picture of the world, the processes of nature were described through new abstractions, the main of which were: indivisible atoms and electrons (atoms of electricity); the world ether, the states of which were considered as electric, magnetic and gravitational forces, propagating from point to point in accordance with the principle of short-range action; absolute space and time.

In the first half of the twentieth century. a modern quantum-relativistic picture of the world is taking shape, which represents a rather radical restructuring of the very philosophical and methodological foundations of understanding. First of all, modern ideas (J. Chu, D. Bohm) refuse the methodology of "elementarism", which dominated physics for a long time: the universe consists of unchanging "building blocks", whose properties determine the main characteristics of macro- and mega-objects. Currently, a rather holistic approach to understanding the universe is being affirmed, in which, on the contrary, the properties of the elements are determined by the properties of the whole or the order of existence (dynamic equilibrium) and probabilistic causality dominates, time and space are relative. The Universe is a self-organizing and self-regulating system of intercorrelated orders and hierarchies, in which interactions at different levels of organization are regulated by the whole and reproduce the whole.

Picture of the world in the system of scientific knowledge

How is the picture of the world different from the actual theories of science, what is it for, i.e. what functions does it perform?

The picture of the world differs from theory in the nature of its ideal objects and in the breadth of coverage of the phenomena being studied. Most of the ideal objects of the theory are intratheoretical in nature, their difference from reality is obvious. On the contrary, the basic concepts of the picture of the world, although they are also idealizations, are nevertheless ontologized, that is, they are identified with reality. The picture of the world is always characterized by a greater breadth of coverage of phenomena than any single theory. The picture of the world presents many theories, including fundamental ones. For example, the modern quantum-relativistic picture of the world combines all the accumulated variety of fundamental physical theories, classical and quantum mechanics, special and general relativity, thermodynamics, classical and quantum electrodynamics.

The connection between them is established through the procedures for mapping the objects of theories to the picture of the world. If the laws of a theory are formulated in the language of mathematics, the mapping of its schemes onto the picture of the world provides their semantic (conceptual) interpretation, and the mapping to situations of real experience provides an empirical interpretation of the equations.

The picture of the world, in contrast to the theory, gives a generalized description of the entire studied reality. This is achieved through views:

— about fundamental objects, units of the universe; b/ about the typologies of the studied objects (micro-, macro-, megaworld; physical, chemical, biological objects etc.);

~ about the general patterns of their interaction;

~ about the space-time structure of reality.

Pictures of the world have two varieties of their formation in relation to the theories from which they are composed. Either they develop through the lines of succession, when theories representing the same type of picture of the world support each other, clarify, supplement and develop, or the same type of picture of the world is realized in the form of competing and alternative ideas about the physical world (Cartesian and Newtonian). concepts of nature).

Special scientific pictures of the world (disciplinary ontologies) are not isolated from each other, the processes of integration of scientific knowledge lead to the creation of new forms of systematization, the limit of which is the general scientific picture of the world. It integrates the most important system-structural characteristics of those areas of reality that are studied by various natural, humanitarian and technical sciences: ideas about the non-stationary Universe and the Big Bang, about living things and genes, ecosystem and biosphere, about society and civilizations, language, the structure of the mind, technology and "artificial", etc.

The formation of pictures of the world in each branch of science takes place not only in a closed mode of communication between specialists, but has access to culture as a whole. In many cases, it is from culture, from everyday practice, that scientists import some significant, visual images (an organism, a book, a clock, a mechanism, an automaton). The visibility of images and representations of scientific pictures of the world ensures their understanding not only by specialists in this field of knowledge, but also by scientists of other disciplines, as well as simply by well-educated people who are not directly related to science. This is the necessary popular form of the existence of special knowledge, which ensures their entry into everyday life and into the worldview of the broad masses of people.

The scientific picture of the world is also connected with philosophy in that, firstly, it is created using a philosophical dictionary of terms and philosophical, that is, general methodological, means, and, secondly, philosophical ideas from a secondary (cultural) source are used (rediscovered) in the form of metaphysical parts of pictures of the world: ontological postulates.

Functions of the scientific picture of the world

The generally accepted function of the scientific picture of the world is the function of organizing and systematizing knowledge. Some cognitive functions of the scientific picture of the world are also distinguished, namely:

* the creation of a stable set of research strategies and operations, entrenched in the conceptual and procedural apparatus of the scientific picture of the world;

* a generalizing function, in accordance with which in the scientific picture of the world a certain “representative” fragment of knowledge (matrix, “label”) is isolated, replacing the rest, more specific knowledge as a whole;

* metaphorical-communicative function, consisting in the fact that the generalized knowledge-strategem is capable of being transferred to a different theoretical context, to other disciplines;

* the representative function, which lies in the fact that the scientific picture of the world is a representative of the world as a whole, enables the researcher to deal in his research not with the world itself, but with its model;

* the function of knowledge compression and the function of its expansion, i.e. distribution to those areas where it was not previously used

* the normative function of the scientific picture of the world, the forms of normative organization in scientific knowledge are the values ​​and epistemological ideals of this disciplinary community.

Scientific picture of the world and new ideological landmarks of civilizational development

The present time is often called transitional or revolutionary. Its essence lies in the problem of humankind's choice of life strategies for further civilizational development.

The technogenic society, which has existed for four centuries after the change of the previous type of development, is itself approaching a certain point of "branching" (bifurcation), which should be followed by a transition to a certain new quality.

The culture of technogenic civilization is based on scientific rationality, which, in turn, is based on a clear opposition of subject and object, demarcation of the social world and nature, use of scientific technologies to transform the earthly environment in the interests of man. This culture ensured the constant growth of production and the improvement of the quality of life of people, the ideas of progress, democracy, freedom, personal initiative were established in it, many myths and prejudices that had held captive the minds of people for thousands of years were dispelled. But new problems have also arisen that have become global due to the globalization of the planet, the main of which are ecological and civilizational inequalities, the crisis of classical rationality.

The identified problems testify to the need to make adjustments to the scientific picture of the world in order to form new value systems and worldview structures. The main adjustments will be made in the following areas:

- Ecologization of consciousness, rejection of the technogenic understanding of nature as an inorganic world, a "dead mechanism", indifferent to man. The formation of a new idea of ​​the organic inclusion of man in the integral space and the proportionality of man as a result of cosmic evolution to the world that gave birth to him.

– Supplementing the scientific picture of the world with the principle of openness: nature and man to each other, which can provide real dialogic communication between man and nature. The principle of openness must also be applied to communication within human cultures for a real unification and mutual understanding of the two main civilizations of mankind: the East and the West. Moreover, the new ideas of modern Western science reproduce many of the ideas that still underlie the worldview of the East: the universal organic interconnection of the cosmos and consciousness, the search for their harmony as the meaning of existence.

– Formation of a new, “open” type of rationality, which differs from the “closed”, intradisciplinary, subject to rigid patterns and rules. Open rationality is characterized by a broad interpretation - as the properties of the mind to somehow streamline its activities through setting goals and developing ways to implement them. It is also characterized by tolerance: an attentive and respectful attitude to other worldview and cultural traditions as equal and justified, the desire to understand them and bring them into their context.

On this day:

Birthdays 1889 Was born Konstantin Mikhailovich Polikarpovich- Belarusian Soviet archaeologist, founder of the study of the Stone Age in the Upper Dnieper region. 1919 Born - Soviet archaeologist, doctor historical sciences, employee of the Institute of Archeology of the USSR Academy of Sciences, specialist in Chernyakhov culture. Days of Death 1896 Died August Kazimirovich Zhiznevsky- Russian archaeologist, organizer of the Tver archival commission and museum.

The scientific picture of the world is a set of theories in the aggregate describing the known to man natural world, an integral system of ideas about the general principles and laws of the structure of the universe. Since the picture of the world is a systemic formation, its change cannot be reduced to any single, albeit the largest and most radical discovery. As a rule, we are talking about a whole series of interconnected discoveries in the main fundamental sciences. These discoveries are almost always accompanied by a radical restructuring of the research method, as well as significant changes in the very norms and ideals of scientificity.

There are three such clearly and unequivocally fixable radical changes in the scientific picture of the world, scientific revolutions in the history of the development of science, they are usually personified by the names of the three scientists who played the greatest role in the changes that took place.

• 1. Aristotelian (VI-IV centuries BC). As a result of this scientific revolution, science itself arose, there was a separation of science from other forms of cognition and development of the world, certain norms and models of scientific knowledge were created. This revolution is most fully reflected in the writings of Aristotle. He created formal logic, i.e. the doctrine of proof, the main tool for deriving and systematizing knowledge, developed a categorical conceptual apparatus. He approved a kind of canon of the organization scientific research(history of the issue, statement of the problem, arguments for and against, justification of the decision), differentiated knowledge itself, separating the sciences of nature from mathematics and metaphysics
• 2. Newtonian scientific revolution (XVI-XVIII centuries). Her starting point considered the transition from the geocentric model of the world to the heliocentric, this transition was due to a series of discoveries associated with the names of N. Copernicus, G. Galileo, I. Kepler, R. Descartes. I. Newton, summed up their research and formulated the basic principles of a new scientific picture of the world in general terms. Main changes:
  • - Classical natural science spoke the language of mathematics, managed to single out strictly objective quantitative characteristics of terrestrial bodies (shape, size, mass, movement) and express them in strict mathematical patterns.
  • - The science of modern times has found a powerful support in the methods pilot study, phenomena under strictly controlled conditions.
  • - The natural sciences of that time abandoned the concept of a harmonious, complete, purposefully organized cosmos, according to their ideas, the Universe is infinite and united only by the action of identical laws.
  • - Mechanics becomes the dominant feature of classical natural science, all considerations based on the concepts of value, perfection, goal-setting were excluded from the scope of scientific research.
  • - In cognitive activity, a clear opposition of the subject and object of research was implied. The result of all these changes was a mechanistic scientific picture of the world based on experimental mathematical natural science.
• 3. Einsteinian revolution (the turn of the XIX-XX centuries). It was determined by a series of discoveries (the discovery of the complex structure of the atom, the phenomenon of radioactivity, the discrete nature of electromagnetic radiation, etc.). As a result, the most important premise of the mechanistic picture of the world was undermined - the conviction that with the help of simple forces acting between immutable objects, all natural phenomena can be explained.

On the basis of new discoveries, the fundamental foundations of a new picture of the world have been formed:

• 1. general and special relativity: new theory space and time has led to the fact that all frames of reference have become equal, so all our ideas make sense only in a certain frame of reference. The picture of the world has acquired a relative, relative character, the key concepts of space, time, causality, continuity have changed, the unambiguous opposition of subject and object has been rejected, perception has become dependent on the frame of reference, which includes both subject and object, the method of observation, etc.
• 2. quantum mechanics (it revealed the probabilistic nature of the laws of the microworld and the irremovable corpuscular-wave dualism in the very foundations of matter). It became clear that it will never be possible to create an absolutely complete and reliable scientific picture of the world, any of them has only relative truth.

Later, within the framework of the new picture of the world, revolutions took place in particular sciences: in cosmology (the concept of a non-stationary Universe), in biology (the development of genetics), etc. Thus, throughout the 20th century, natural science has greatly changed its appearance, in all its sections.

Three global revolutions predetermined three long periods in the development of science; they are key stages in the development of natural science. This does not mean that the periods of evolutionary development of science lying between them were periods of stagnation. At this time also took place major discoveries, new theories and methods are created, it is in the course of evolutionary development that material is accumulated that makes revolution inevitable. In addition, between two periods of the development of science separated by a scientific revolution, as a rule, there are no irremovable contradictions, a new scientific theory does not completely reject the previous one, but includes it as a special case, that is, establishes a limited scope for it. Even now, when less than a hundred years have passed since the emergence of the new paradigm, many scientists are suggesting the proximity of new global revolutionary changes in the scientific picture of the world.

IN modern science The following forms of the scientific picture of the world are distinguished:

• 1. general scientific as a generalized idea of ​​the Universe, wildlife, society and man, formed on the basis of a synthesis of knowledge obtained in various scientific disciplines;
• 2. social and natural-science pictures of the world as representations of society and nature, generalizing the achievements of the social, humanitarian and natural sciences;
• 3. special scientific pictures of the world - ideas about the subjects of individual sciences (physical, chemical, biological, linguistic pictures of the world, etc.). In this case, the term "world" is used in a specific sense, denoting not the world as a whole, but the subject area of ​​a separate science (the physical world, the chemical world, the biological world, the linguistic world, etc.).

In the future, we will consider the physical picture of the world, since it is it that most clearly reflects the changes in the worldview as science develops.

So, having considered the development of classical natural science, we come to the conclusion that by the beginning of the 21st century, it is characterized by the creation of a new fundamental physical picture of the world.

The scientific picture of the world is an integral system of ideas about the general properties and patterns of reality, built as a result of generalization and synthesis of fundamental scientific concepts, principles and theories. Depending on the bases of division, a general scientific picture of the world is distinguished, which includes ideas about the whole of reality, and a natural-scientific picture of the world. The latter - depending on the subject of knowledge - can be physical, astronomical, chemical, biological, etc.

In the general scientific picture of the world, the defining element is the picture of that area of ​​scientific knowledge, which occupies a leading position at a particular stage in the development of science. Each picture of the world is built on the basis of certain fundamental scientific theories, and as practice and knowledge develop, some scientific pictures of the world are replaced by others. Thus, the natural-science (and, above all, physical) picture of the world was built first (since the 17th century) on the basis of classical mechanics, then electrodynamics, then (since the beginning of the 20th century) quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity, and today - on the basis of synergetics.

The main element of any religious picture of the world is the image of a single God (monotheistic religions) or many gods (polytheistic religions). All religions at all times believe that our empirical reality is not independent and not self-sufficient, but has a derivative commodity character, since it is secondary, there is a result, a projection of another - real, true reality - God or gods. In this way, religions double the world and point out to a person superior forces that have reason, will, and their own laws. It is they who determine the life of people in the fullness of its existence.

Thus, a specific feature of the religious picture of the world is the division of reality into natural and supernatural spheres, the former being considered dependent on the latter. Reaching the sphere of supernatural being, understood as the only true one, becomes the goal of human existence. Depending on the content of creeds, one can talk about the worldviews of specific religions: Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim, Christian, etc.

Philosophical pictures of the world are very diverse, but they are all built around the relationship: man and the world. This relation can be understood materialistically or idealistically, dialectically or metaphysically, objectivistically or subjectivistically, and so on. The relationship between man and the world in philosophy is considered in all its diversity of aspects - ontological, epistemological, methodological, value (axiological), activity, etc. That is why the philosophical pictures of the world are so numerous and do not resemble one another.

In the history of world culture, philosophical pictures of the world were closer either to the religious or to the scientific pictures of the world, but always differed from them. So, within each particular science there are various levels of generalization, which, however, do not go beyond a certain sphere or aspect of being. In philosophical thinking, these generalizations of particular sciences themselves become the subject of analysis. Philosophy brings together the results of research in all areas of knowledge (and not just scientific ones), creating a comprehensive synthesis of the universal laws of being and cognition.

Philosophy differs significantly from any private science, primarily in that it is a worldview. This means that the philosophical picture of the world includes not only the doctrine of essence and everything general laws development of reality, but also moral, aesthetic and other ideas and beliefs of people.

Scientific picture of the world

Scientific picture of the world (abbr. NKM) - one of the fundamental concepts in natural science - a special form of systematization of knowledge, a qualitative generalization and ideological synthesis of various scientific theories. Being an integral system of ideas about the general properties and patterns of the objective world, the scientific picture of the world exists as a complex structure, including constituent parts a general scientific picture of the world and a picture of the world of individual sciences (physical, biological, geological, etc.). Pictures of the world of individual sciences, in turn, include the corresponding numerous concepts - certain ways of understanding and interpreting any objects, phenomena and processes of the objective world that exist in each individual science. The belief system that affirms the fundamental role of science as a source of knowledge and judgments about the world is called scientism.

In the process of cognition of the surrounding world in the mind of a person, knowledge, abilities, skills, types of behavior and communication are reflected and consolidated. The totality of the results of human cognitive activity forms a certain model (picture of the world). In the history of mankind, a fairly large number of the most diverse pictures of the world were created and existed, each of which was distinguished by its vision of the world and its specific explanation. However, the progress of ideas about the surrounding world is achieved mainly due to scientific research. The scientific picture of the world does not include private knowledge about the various properties of specific phenomena, about the details of the cognitive process itself. The scientific picture of the world is not the totality of all human knowledge about the objective world, it is an integral system of ideas about the general properties, spheres, levels and patterns of reality.

Scientific picture of the world- a system of human ideas about the properties and patterns of reality (really existing world), built as a result of generalization and synthesis of scientific concepts and principles. Uses scientific language to designate objects and phenomena of matter.

Scientific picture of the world- many theories in the aggregate describing the natural world known to man, an integral system of ideas about the general principles and laws of the structure of the universe. The picture of the world is a systematic formation, therefore its change cannot be reduced to any single (albeit the largest and most radical) discovery. We are usually talking about a whole series of interconnected discoveries (in the main fundamental sciences), which are almost always accompanied by a radical restructuring of the research method, as well as significant changes in the very norms and ideals of scientificity.

Scientific picture of the world- a special form of theoretical knowledge, representing the subject of research of science according to a certain stage of its historical development, through which specific knowledge obtained in various fields of scientific research is integrated and systematized.

For Western philosophy in the mid-90s of the XX century, there were attempts to introduce new categorical means into the arsenal of methodological analysis, but at the same time, a clear distinction between the concepts of “picture of the world” and “scientific picture of the world” was not made. In our domestic philosophical and methodological literature, the term "picture of the world" is used not only to denote a worldview, but also in a narrower sense - when it comes to scientific ontologies, that is, those ideas about the world that are a special type of scientific theoretical knowledge. In this meaning scientific picture of the world acts as a specific form of systematization of scientific knowledge that sets the vision of the objective world of science in accordance with a certain stage of its functioning and development .

The phrase can also be used natural-scientific picture of the world .

In the process of development of science there is a constant renewal of knowledge, ideas and concepts, earlier ideas become special cases of new theories. The scientific picture of the world is not a dogma and not an absolute truth. Scientific ideas about the surrounding world are based on the totality of proven facts and established cause-and-effect relationships, which allows us to make conclusions and predictions about the properties of our world that contribute to the development of human civilization with a certain degree of confidence. The discrepancy between the results of testing the theory, the hypothesis, the concept, the identification of new facts - all this makes us reconsider the existing ideas and create new, more appropriate realities. This development is the essence of the scientific method.

Picture of the world

• worldview structures that lie at the foundation of the culture of a certain historical era. The terms are used in the same sense. image of the world, world model, vision of the world characterizing the integrity of the worldview.
• scientific ontologies, that is, those ideas about the world that are a special type of scientific theoretical knowledge. In this sense, the concept of a scientific picture of the world is used to denote:
  • horizon of systematization of knowledge obtained in various scientific disciplines. At the same time, the scientific picture of the world acts as a holistic image of the world, including ideas about nature and society.
  • systems of ideas about nature, emerging as a result of the synthesis of natural science knowledge (in a similar way, this concept refers to the totality of knowledge obtained in the humanities and social sciences)
  • through this concept, a vision of the subject of a particular science is formed, which is formed at the corresponding stage of its history and changes during the transition from one stage to another.

According to the indicated meanings, the concept of the scientific picture of the world is split into a number of interrelated concepts, each of which denotes a special type of scientific picture of the world how a special level of systematization of scientific knowledge :

• general scientific picture of the world (systematized knowledge obtained in various fields)
• natural-science picture of the world and social (socio)-scientific picture of the world
• concrete-scientific picture of the world (physical picture of the world, picture of the reality under study)
• special (private, local) scientific picture of the world of individual branches of science.

They also distinguish a "naive" picture of the world

The scientific picture of the world is neither philosophy nor science; the scientific picture of the world differs from scientific theory by the philosophical transformation of the categories of science into fundamental concepts and the absence of the process of obtaining and arguing knowledge; At the same time, the scientific picture of the world is not reduced to philosophical principles, since it is a consequence of the development of scientific knowledge.

Historical types

There are three clearly and unambiguously fixed radical changes in the scientific picture of the world, scientific revolutions in the history of the development of science, which are usually personified by the names of the three scientists who played the greatest role in the changes that took place.

Aristotelian

Period: VI-IV centuries BC

Conditioning:

Reflection in the works:

• The most complete - Aristotle: the creation of formal logic (the doctrine of proof, the main tool for deriving and systematizing knowledge, developed a categorically conceptual apparatus), the approval of a kind of canon for the organization of scientific research (history of the issue, statement of the problem, arguments for and against, justification of the decision), differentiation of the knowledge (separation of the science of nature from mathematics and metaphysics)

Result:

• the emergence of science itself
• separation of science from other forms of knowledge and exploration of the world
• creation of certain norms and models of scientific knowledge.

Newtonian scientific revolution

Period: XVI-XVIII centuries

Starting point: transition from the geocentric model of the world to the heliocentric one.

Conditioning:

Reflection in the works:

• Discoveries: N. Copernicus, G. Galileo, I. Kepler, R. Descartes. I. Newton summed up their research, formulated the basic principles of a new scientific picture of the world in general terms.

Main changes:

• The language of mathematics, the allocation of strictly objective quantitative characteristics terrestrial bodies (shape, magnitude, mass, movement), their expression in strict mathematical laws
• Methods of experimental research. Phenomena studied - under strictly controlled conditions
• Rejection of the concept of a harmonious, complete, expediently organized cosmos.
• Representations: The universe is infinite and united only by the action of identical laws
• Dominant: mechanics, all considerations based on the concepts of value, perfection, goal setting, were excluded from the scope of scientific research.
• Cognitive activity: a clear opposition of the subject and object of research.

Outcome: the emergence of a mechanistic scientific picture of the world on the basis of experimental mathematical natural science.

Einstein revolution

Period: turn of the XIX-XX centuries.

Conditioning:

• Discoveries:
  • complex structure of an atom
  • radioactivity phenomenon
  • discrete nature of electromagnetic radiation
• and etc.

Bottom line: the most important premise of the mechanistic picture of the world was undermined - the conviction that with the help of simple forces acting between immutable objects, all natural phenomena can be explained.

Comparison with other "pictures of the world"

The scientific picture of the world is one of the possible pictures of the world, therefore it has both something in common with all other pictures of the world - mythological, religious, philosophical - and something special that distinguishes the scientific picture of the world from the diversity of all other images of the world.

with religious

The scientific picture of the world may differ from religious ideas about the world, based on the authority of the prophets, religious tradition, sacred texts, etc. Therefore, religious ideas are more conservative, unlike scientific ones, which change as a result of the discovery of new facts. In turn, the religious concepts of the universe can change in order to approach scientific views of his time. At the heart of obtaining a scientific picture of the world is an experiment that allows you to confirm the reliability of certain judgments. At the heart of the religious picture of the world lies the belief in the truth of certain judgments belonging to some kind of authority. Nevertheless, due to the experience of all kinds of esoteric states (not only of religious or occult origin), a person can get personal experience confirming a certain picture of the world, but in most cases attempts to build a scientific picture of the world on this belong to pseudoscience.

With artistic and domestic

The scientific picture of the world also differs from the worldview inherent in everyday or artistic perception of the world, which uses everyday/artistic language to designate objects and phenomena of the world. For example, a person of art creates artistic images of the world on the basis of a synthesis of his subjective (emotional perception) and objective (dispassionate) comprehension, while a person of science focuses exclusively on the objective and, with the help of critical thinking, eliminates subjectivity from the results of research.

With a philosophical

The relationship between science and philosophy is the subject of discussion. On the one hand, the history of philosophy is a humanities, the main method of which is the interpretation and comparison of texts. On the other hand, philosophy claims to be something more than science, its beginning and end, the methodology of science and its generalization, a theory of a higher order, metascience. Science exists as a process of proposing and refuting hypotheses, while the role of philosophy is to study the criteria of scientificity and rationality. At the same time, philosophy reflects scientific discoveries, including them in the context of the formed knowledge and thereby determining their meaning. Related to this ancient representation about philosophy as the queen of sciences or about the science of sciences.

with mixed

All of these representations can be present in a person together and in various combinations. The scientific picture of the world, although it can make up a significant part of the worldview, is never an adequate substitute for it, since in his individual being a person needs both emotions and an artistic or purely everyday perception of the surrounding reality, as well as ideas about what is beyond reliably known or on the border of the unknown, which must be overcome at one point or another in the process of cognition.

The evolution of representations

There are different opinions about how ideas about the world change in the history of mankind. Because science is relatively recent, it can provide additional information about the world. However, some philosophers believe that over time, the scientific picture of the world should completely replace all others.

Universe

History of the Universe

Birth of the Universe

At the time of the Big Bang, the universe occupied microscopic, quantum dimensions.

Some physicists admit the possibility of a plurality of such processes, and hence a plurality of universes with different properties. The fact that our Universe is adapted for the formation of life can be explained by chance - in "less adapted" universes there is simply no one to analyze this (see the Anthropic Principle and the text of the lecture "Inflation, Quantum Cosmology and the Anthropic Principle"). A number of scientists have put forward the concept of a “boiling multiverse”, in which new universes are continuously born and this process has no beginning and no end.

It should be noted that the very fact of the Big Bang can be considered proven with a high degree of probability, but explanations of its causes and detailed descriptions of how this happened still belong to the category of hypotheses.

Evolution of the Universe

The expansion and cooling of the Universe in the first moments of the existence of our world led to the next phase transition - the formation physical strength and elementary particles in their modern form.

The dominant hypotheses boil down to the fact that for the first 300-400 thousand years the Universe was filled only with ionized hydrogen and helium. As the universe expanded and cooled, they passed into a stable neutral state, forming ordinary gas. Presumably, after 500 million years, the first stars lit up, and the clumps of matter formed in the early stages due to quantum fluctuations turned into galaxies.

Studies show recent years, planetary systems around stars are very common (at least in our galaxy). There are several hundred billion stars in the Galaxy and, apparently, no less number of planets.

Modern physics is faced with the task of creating a general theory that combines quantum field theory and relativity theory. This would make it possible to explain the processes occurring in black holes and, possibly, the mechanism of the Big Bang.

According to Newton, empty space is a real entity. According to the Leibniz-Mach interpretation, only material objects are the real essence. It follows from this that the sand will not scatter, since its position relative to the plate does not change (that is, nothing happens in the reference frame rotating with the plate). At the same time, the contradiction with experience is explained by the fact that in reality the Universe is not empty, but the entire set of material objects forms a gravitational field, relative to which the plate rotates. Einstein initially believed the Leibniz-Mach interpretation to be correct, but in the second half of his life he was inclined to believe that space-time is a real entity.

According to experimental data, the (ordinary) space of our Universe at large distances has zero or very small positive curvature. This is explained by the rapid expansion of the Universe at the initial moment, as a result of which the elements of space curvature leveled off (see the inflationary model of the Universe).

In our Universe, space has three dimensions (according to some theories, there are additional dimensions at microdistances), and time is one.

Time only moves in one direction (the "arrow of time"), although physical formulas are symmetrical about the direction of time, except in thermodynamics. One explanation for the unidirectionality of time is based on the second law of thermodynamics, according to which entropy can only increase and therefore determines the direction of time. The growth of entropy is explained by probabilistic reasons: at the level of interaction of elementary particles, all physical processes are reversible, but the probability of a chain of events in the "forward" and "reverse" directions may be different. Thanks to this probabilistic difference, we can judge the events of the past with greater certainty and certainty than the events of the future. According to another hypothesis, the reduction of the wave function is irreversible and therefore determines the direction of time (however, many physicists doubt that the reduction is a real physical process). Some scientists are trying to reconcile both approaches within the framework of the theory of decoherence: during decoherence, information about most previous quantum states is lost, therefore, this process is irreversible in time.

physical vacuum

According to some theories, the vacuum can be in different states with different energy levels. According to one hypothesis, the vacuum is filled with the Higgs field (preserved after the "Big Bang" "remnants" of the inflaton field), which is responsible for the manifestations of gravity and the presence of dark energy.

Modern science does not yet give a satisfactory description of the structure and properties of vacuum.

Elementary particles

All elementary particles are characterized by corpuscular-wave dualism: on the one hand, particles are single, indivisible objects, on the other hand, the probability of detecting them is “smeared” over space (“smearing” is of a fundamental nature and is not just a mathematical abstraction, this fact illustrates , for example, an experiment with the simultaneous passage of a photon through two slits at once). Under certain conditions, such "smearing" can even take on macroscopic dimensions.

Quantum mechanics describes a particle using the so-called wave function, the physical meaning of which is still unclear, but the square of its modulus does not determine exactly where the particle is, but where it could be and with what probability. Thus, the behavior of particles is fundamentally probabilistic in nature: due to the “smearing” of the probability of detecting a particle in space, we cannot determine its location and momentum with absolute certainty (see the uncertainty principle). But in the macrocosm, dualism is insignificant.

When experimentally determining the exact location of the particle, the wave function is reduced, that is, during the measurement process, the “smeared” particle turns into an “unsmeared” particle at the time of measurement with one of the interaction parameters randomly distributed, this process is also called the “collapse” of the particle. Reduction is an instantaneous process, so many physicists consider it not a real process, but a mathematical method of description. A similar mechanism operates in experiments with entangled particles (see quantum entanglement). At the same time, experimental data allow many scientists to assert that these instantaneous processes (including the relationship between spatially separated entangled particles) are of a real nature. In this case, information is not transmitted and the theory of relativity is not violated.

The reasons why there is such a set of particles, the reasons for the presence of mass in some of them and a number of other parameters are still unknown. Physics is faced with the task of constructing a theory in which the properties of particles would follow from the properties of the vacuum.

One of the attempts to build a universal theory was string theory, in which fundamental elementary particles are one-dimensional objects (strings) that differ only in their geometry.

Interactions

Many theoretical physicists believe that in reality there is only one interaction in nature, which can manifest itself in four forms (just as the whole variety of chemical reactions are various manifestations of the same quantum effects). Therefore, the task of fundamental physics is the development of the theory of "grand unification" of interactions. To date, only the theory of the electroweak interaction has been developed, which combines the weak and electromagnetic interactions.

It is assumed that at the moment of the Big Bang there was a single interaction, which was divided into four in the first moments of the existence of our world.

Microworld

The matter that we encounter in everyday life is made up of atoms. The composition of atoms includes an atomic nucleus, consisting of protons and neutrons, as well as electrons, "flickering" around the nucleus (quantum mechanics uses the concept of "electron cloud"). Protons and neutrons refer to hadrons (which are made up of quarks). It should be noted that under laboratory conditions it was possible to obtain "atoms" consisting of other elementary particles (for example, pionium and muonium, which include pion and muon.).

A life

The concept of living

According to the definition of RAS Academician E. Galimov, life is a phenomenon of increasing and inherited ordering materialized in organisms, inherent under certain conditions in the evolution of carbon compounds. All living organisms are characterized by isolation from the environment, the ability to reproduce themselves, functioning through the exchange of matter and energy with environment, the ability to change and adapt, the ability to perceive signals and the ability to respond to them.

The device of living organisms, genes and DNA

The evolution of living organisms

Principles of evolution

The development of life on Earth, including the complication of living organisms, occurs as a result of unpredictable mutations and subsequent natural selection of the most successful of them (for the mechanisms of evolution, see the book "Evolution of Life").

The development of such complex devices as the eye as a result of "accidental" changes may seem incredible. However, the analysis of primitive species and paleontological data shows that the evolution of even the most complex organs has occurred through a chain of small changes, each of which individually does not represent anything unusual. Computer modeling of the development of the eye led to the conclusion that its evolution could be even faster than it happened in reality (see).

In general, evolution, change in systems is a fundamental property of nature, reproduced in laboratory conditions. This does not contradict the law of entropy increase, since it is true for non-closed systems (if energy is passed through the system, then the entropy in it can decrease). The processes of spontaneous complication are studied by the science of synergetics. One example of the evolution of non-living systems is the formation of dozens of atoms based on only three particles and the formation of billions of complex chemicals based on atoms.

History of life on earth

Levels of life organization

Six main structural levels of life:

• Molecular
• Cellular
• Organismic
• population-species
• Biogeocenotic
• biospheric

Human

The divergence of the ancestors of modern great apes and humans occurred about 15 million years ago. Approximately 5 million years ago, the first hominids appeared - Australopithecus. It should be noted that the formation of "human" traits proceeded simultaneously in several species of hominids (such parallelism has been repeatedly observed in the history of evolutionary changes).

About 2.5 million years ago, the first representative of the genus separated from Australopithecus Homo- skillful person Homo habilis ), who already knew how to make stone tools. 1.6 million years ago to replace Homo habilis erect man came Homo erectus, Pithecanthropus) with an increased brain volume. Modern man (Cro-Magnon) appeared about 100 thousand years ago in Africa. Approximately 60-40 thousand years ago, the Cro-Magnons moved to Asia and gradually settled in all parts of the world with the exception of Antarctica, displacing another type of people - Neanderthals, who died out about 30 thousand years ago. All parts of the world, including Australia and the outer islands of Oceania, South America were inhabited by people long before the Great geographical discoveries Columbus, Magellan and other European travelers from the 14th to 16th centuries AD.

A person has much more than other animals, abstract thinking and the ability to generalize are developed.

The most important achievement modern man in many respects distinguishing it from other animals was the development of the exchange of information through oral speech. This allowed people to accumulate cultural achievements, including improving the methods of making and using tools, from generation to generation.

The invention of writing 3-4 thousand years BC in the interfluve of the Tigris and Euphrates in the territory of modern Iraq and in ancient egypt, significantly accelerated technological progress, as it allowed the transfer of accumulated knowledge without direct contact.

see also

Notes

1. Sadokhin, Alexander Petrovich. Concepts modern natural science: a textbook for university students studying in the humanities and specialties of economics and management / A. P. Sadokhin. - 2nd ed., revised. and additional - M.: UNITY-DANA, 2006. p. 17 (1.5. Scientific picture of the world)
2. Vizgin V. P. Hermeticism, experiment, miracle: three aspects of the genesis of modern science // Philosophical and religious origins of science. M ., 1997. S.88-141.
3. Gubbyeva Z. O., Kashirin A. Yu., Shlapakova N. A. The concept of modern natural science
4. Scientific picture of the world - Visual Dictionary
5. Stepin V. S., Kuznetsova L. F. Scientific picture of the world in the culture of technogenic civilization. - M., 1994.- 274 s
6. Arkhipkin V. G., Timofeev V. P. Natural-scientific picture of the world
7. Buchilo N. F., Isaev I. A - History and philosophy of science ISBN 5-392-01570-0 , ISBN 978-5-392-01570-2 Pages. 192
8. Kasevich V. B. "Buddhism. Worldview. Language. Series "Orientalia". St. Petersburg, 1996. 288 c. ISBN 5-85803-050-5
9. Moiseev V. I. What is the scientific picture of the world? 1999
10. Green B. The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality. M: URSS, 2009 Ch. "Randomness and the Arrow of Time" ISBN 978-5-397-00001-7
11. E.Galimov. "What is life? The concept of ordering. Knowledge is Power, No. 9, 2008, p.80.

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Links

Scientific picture of the world is a component in a struct scientific knowledge. The very term "scientific picture of the world" in relation to physics was introduced by Heinrich Hertz (1857-1894), who understood by it the inner image of the world that a scientist develops as a result of the study of the external, objective world. If such an image adequately reflects the real connections and laws of the external world, then the logical connections between the concepts and judgments of a scientific picture must correspond to the objective laws of the external world. As G. Hertz emphasizes, the logical connections between the representations of the internal image of the external world must be "images of the naturally necessary consequences of the displayed objects."

More detailed analysis We find the scientific picture of the world in the statements of M. Planck, which are published in his book “The Unity of the Physical Picture of the World”. As later A. Einstein, M. Planck pointed out that the scientific picture of the world is created in order to get a holistic view of the studied outside world. Such a representation should be cleared of anthropomorphic, human-related impressions and sensations. However, as a result of abstraction from such concrete sensations, the resulting picture of the world looks "much more pale, dry and devoid of immediate visibility compared to the motley, colorful splendor of the original picture, which arose from various needs. human life and bore the imprint of all specific sensations.

Planck believes that the advantage of the scientific picture of the world, thanks to which it will supplant all previous pictures, lies in its "unity - unity in relation to all researchers, all nationalities, all cultures."

The scientific picture of the world of any science has, on the one hand, a specific character, since it is determined by the subject of a particular science. On the other hand, such a picture is relative, due to the historically approximate, relative nature of the very process of human cognition. That's why building it in its final, complete form, they considered an unattainable goal.

As science and practice develop, changes, corrections and improvements will be made to the scientific picture of the world, but this picture will never acquire the character of final, absolute truth.

The fundamental theory or paradigm of a certain science can be formed into a scientific picture of the world only when its initial concepts and principles acquire a general scientific and worldview character. For example, in the mechanistic picture of the world, such principles as the reversibility of events in time, strictly unambiguous determinism, the absolute character of space and time, began to be extrapolated or extended to other events and processes of a non-mechanical nature.

Along with this, the extraordinary accuracy of predictions of mechanics in calculating the motion of terrestrial and celestial bodies contributed to the formation of such an ideal of science, which excludes randomness in nature and considers all events and processes from the point of view of strictly unambiguous mechanical causality.

All these considerations speak of the close relationship between the scientific picture of nature and the basic concepts and principles created by individual fundamental branches of natural science. First, concepts and laws are created that are directly related to the study of observed phenomena and the establishment of the simplest empirical laws. So, for example, in the study of electrical and magnetic phenomena, the simplest empirical laws were first established, quantitatively explaining these phenomena. Attempts to explain them in terms of mechanical representations have failed.

The decisive step in explaining these phenomena was:

• discovery by Oersted magnetic field around a conductor carrying current
• Faraday's discovery of electromagnetic induction, i.e. the appearance of current in a closed conductor moving in a magnetic field.
• Maxwell's creation of the fundamental theory of electromagnetism led to the establishment of an inseparable connection not only between electrical and magnetic phenomena, but also between optics.
• introduction of the concept electromagnetic field, as the initial basis of the electromagnetic theory, was a decisive step in building a new picture of nature, which is fundamentally different from the mechanistic picture.

With the help of the electromagnetic picture of nature, it was possible to establish not only the relationship between electrical, magnetic and optical phenomena, but also to correct the shortcomings of the previous mechanistic picture, for example, to eliminate the provision on the instantaneous action of forces at a distance.

The construction of a picture of the world in a separate science is taking place a series of successive stages:

• First, simple concepts and empirical laws are created to explain the observed phenomena.
• Laws and theories are being discovered, with the help of which they try to explain the essence of observed phenomena and empirical laws.
• Fundamental theories or concepts arise that can become a picture of the world created by a separate science.
• The dialectical synthesis of pictures of the nature of individual sciences leads to the formation of an integral natural-science picture of the world.

In the process of evolution and progress of scientific knowledge, old concepts are replaced by new ones, less general theories are more fundamental and general theories. And this, over time, inevitably leads to a change in scientific pictures of the world, but at the same time, the principle of continuity, common to the development of all scientific knowledge, continues to operate. The old picture of the world is not discarded entirely, but continues to retain its significance, only the limits of its applicability are specified.

The electromagnetic picture of the world did not reject the mechanical picture of the world, but clarified the scope of its application. Similarly, the quantum-relativistic picture did not reject the electromagnetic picture, but indicated the limits of its applicability.

However, man lives not only in natural environment, but also in society, and therefore his view of the world is not limited to ideas about nature, but also includes his opinions about the social structure, its laws and orders. Since the individual life of people is formed under the influence of their own life experience, their views on society, and, consequently, the picture of society, do not look the same.

Science, on the other hand, sets as its goal the creation of a holistic picture of society, which would have a general, universal - and, most importantly, an objective character.

Thus, the general scientific picture of the world, which consists of the picture of nature formed by natural science and the picture of society created by the social and human sciences, gives a single, holistic view of the fundamental principles of the development of nature and society. But the laws of society differ significantly from the laws of nature, primarily in that the actions of people are always conscious and purposeful, while blind, elemental forces act in nature. However, in society, despite the difference in goals, interests and aspirations different people, their groups and classes, eventually a certain order is established, expressing the natural nature of its development. From this it becomes clear that between the scientific picture of natural science and the picture of social science there is a deep intercom, which finds its concrete embodiment in the existence of a general scientific picture of the world.

Structure scientific picture of the world includes:

• central theoretical core, which has relative stability - any concept (theory, the theory of evolution, quantum theory etc.) Example: when it comes to physical reality, the superstable elements of any picture of the world include the principle of conservation of energy, fundamental physical constants that characterize the basic properties of matter - space, time, matter, field.
• fundamental assumptions, conditionally accepted as irrefutable,
• private theoretical models, which are constantly being built up,
• philosophical attitudes

In domestic practice, it is customary to allocate 3 main historical forms:

• classical (17th - 19th centuries),
• non-classical (19th - 20th centuries)
• post-nonclassical (late 20th century).

One can also single out the natural-philosophical scientific picture of the world (before the 17th century).

General scientific picture of the world- a generalized idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe structure of the world, created by the efforts of everyone for a specific historical era Sciences.

The scientific picture of the world can be of 2 types:

• general
• special (physical, chemical, biological)

Functions:

1. Systematizing. Contradictions: the increase in entropy, in the social world - the increase in order - this is an example of a contradiction.
2. Normative.

In the bosom of the general scientific picture of the world, special scientific pictures of the world (a picture of the studied reality). They form that specific layer of theoretical concepts that provides the formulation of the tasks of empirical research, the vision of situations of observation and experiment, and the interpretation of their results.

The term "special scientific picture of the world" should be recognized as unsuccessful, since the world is everything, and not just physical, chemical, etc.

Special scientific picture of the world is a picture of a part of reality that is being investigated by certain sciences. A special scientific picture of the world includes representations of:

1. about the fundamental objects from which everything is built;
2. about the typology of the studied objects;
3. about the general laws of their interaction;
4. about the space-time structure of reality.

Example: classical and non-classical physical pictures of the world.

Functions of a special scientific picture of the world: